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John Carter (2012)

Oyyyy, this movie is going to bomb, isn’t it? Early reviews haven’t been kind, the lead is a TV actor with not much movie exposure (and let’s face it, as much I as love Friday Night Lights, it wasn’t exactly a big hit, rating-wise). And so soon after Avatar, do we really need another white-man-goes-to-another-planet-and-save-the-natives story?

I feel bad for Andrew Stanton the director. I have such a soft spot for him (come on, what kind of heartless monster could dislike the guy who did Toy Story and WALL-E??) and I was hoping his first foray to live-action movie would be successful. And I guess it shows how much influence he has (had?) in Hollywood that the studio let him cast someone as relatively unknown as Taylor Kitsch as the lead of a 250 million dollars movie. But ANdrew, did you even see Friday Night Lights before casting Taylor? Tim Riggins is great, and I love him and all that, but …. it’s not really a character that demands a lot of acting, umm, talent, you know? Taylor was there mostly to look hot, rugged and mysterious, and he did that very well! But in the more emotional or intense scenes, you could clearly see the limits of Taylor’s ability. Casting a proven star who’s not a very good actor is one thing; casting a non-star who’s not a very good actor is something else altogether. But hey, maybe I’m wrong, maybe Taylor has improved a lot. I’ll probably see it anyway, even with the stinky reviews, for Andrew Stanton.